Your Donations Are Making a Difference

2018-2019 Budget

Part of the PFC funds are used toward our wonderful support counselors. Read more about them below!

      This is my 7th year working as a Support Counselor at Northgate High School. In addition to working at Northgate, I also have a private practice and I work at John Muir Health in their in-patient psychiatric hospital. My interest in counseling started as a desire to support people in overcoming difficult life situations through connecting with themselves, specifically through physical activity. In graduate school, I studied meditation, where I learned to sit and just be with emotions rather than having to react and be driven by them. While this helped me personally, I also realized what an important practice this could be for my clients. I began to integrate this into my professional work – focusing on helping people gain more awareness and acceptance of their bodies, thoughts and emotions. This desire to support people to feel more at peace, confident and alive in their bodies and their lives is what motivates me to continue the work I do. I love working with teenagers because they are at an age where they are able to have this awareness, but they can also be rich for change and growth as they figure out who they are in the world. Plus, I’m sure I’m still a little stuck in my own adolescence so I appreciate forging through the trials and tribulations of teenage life.

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       Jon Parker is a new Support Counselor at Northgate High School. He has been working with teens for over 12 years in a variety of settings, including public and private high schools, a family therapy agency and an adolescent residential rehab facility. He also maintains a private practice in Orinda. 
      He feels that the teenage years are both the most exciting and most stressful period in a person's life and is glad to have a chance to provide support to kids going though all that the teen years entail. He also is a Certified Mindfulness Instructor and has plans to bring more mindfulness into the Northgate community.